


Let Me Try

by superwhomerlocked



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:21:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superwhomerlocked/pseuds/superwhomerlocked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during the time of the Vietnam War, Natsu Dragneel fights PTSD as he comes home from the war, and meets Lucy Heartfilia. When he is called back to Vietnam, he faces more horrific things than ever before, and watches his own friends die before him. Lucy is his only sanctuary when he returns home from Vietnam each time, but every time he returns home, he's a little more broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Me Try

            Natsu looked down at his feet as he walked through the crowd, hearing loud noises, causing him to wince every time. The year was 1967, soon coming to a close to be 1968. Natsu had just returned from being deployed in Vietnam for almost a year. He had always found it a gift that he made it out alive. Others he had known hadn’t made it.

            A loud crash banged through the streets as someone knocked over a trashcan, and Natsu looked up, shaking violently, and stumbling into a wall as visions from the war filled his mind. Deaths of fellow soldiers, deaths of innocent people that they didn’t know were innocent, and many others flashed through his mind.

            Natsu hit the ground, and felt himself grow nauseous as the images continued to flash in his mind, bringing tears to his eyes. He gagged slightly, before feeling a hand on his soldier, causing him to jump and fall fully down, face to the ground.

            “I-I’m so sorry!” a voice exclaimed. Natsu shakily pushed himself up, sitting and wiping at his face. “Are you okay? Do you need any help?”

            “I-I’m fine,” Natsu lied, looking up. He came eye to eye with a woman with brown eyes and blonde hair. “I just felt dizzy.”

            “Why don’t I take you to get some pop?” she asked, offering him a hand. He gently took it, not wanting to hurt the beautiful woman in front of him. All he ever did was hurt people, or kill them.

            “No, I’m fine,” Natsu said, smiling. “Thank you.”

            “Are you sure?” she asked, letting go of him. He stumbled, and she grabbed him again. “Sir, you need something to eat or drink!”

            “I’m fine,” Natsu urged, pulling down on his jacket, feeling the cool December air on his neck. He rubbed his head, and turned away from the blonde, looking down at his feet again.

            “Wait, please. Let me help,” the woman urged, running to him as he walked away. She grabbed Natsu’s arm, causing him to flinch. “Are you okay?”

            “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m fine?” he asked bitterly, pulling his arm away.

            “Were you a soldier?” she asked. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her.

            “That’s not something you ask every man these days. Not with that hell called a war going on,” he scolded. “Not every man is a soldier. Not every guy on the street who falls down just because he got dizzy is suffering, got it?” he continued.

            “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “It’s just my friend, Gray, does this a lot. His girl Juvia and I always have to help him when he gets his attacks. I just recognized the situation and assumed you were a soldier.” She stepped away from him, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

            “I-“ Natsu’s sentence fell short as he looked at the girl in front of him. “I’m Natsu.”

            “Lucy,” she replied, gingerly taking his outstretched hand. “Sorry for bothering you. I’ll be on my way.”

            “No, please. It’s not your fault. Can I take you to a diner?” he asked, keeping a hold of her hand. She gave him a funny look, but nodded slightly, and followed him.

            “I’m sorry for asking you that,” she said as they sat down at the diner.

            “No, don’t be,” he said. “Would you like a milkshake?”

            “Oh, uh, sure. Strawberry.”

            “Two strawberry milkshakes please,” Natsu said to the waitress. He then looked at Lucy. “I was a soldier, well am. I returned from Nam just two weeks ago. I was in the boonies a lot. It was all a cluster fuck,” he muttered, clenching his fists slightly.

            “I-I’m sorry,” Lucy whispered, looking at him. “What unit were you in?”

            “I was a part of the Green Berets.” His voice was almost a whisper, raspy and broken. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, and looked at her hands.

            “Did you know a Gray Fullbuster?” she asked, looking up at him. He looked up at the sound of the name, and laughed.

            “Did I know Gray? Hell yeah. I hated that bastard so much that I loved him. He left before me. He served with the Green Berets for a few months then he apparently became an airborne,” Natsu said, smiling a little. “He always made us smile after those awful missions.”

            “That’s my friend. I share an apartment with him and his girl if you want to see him,” Lucy rushed, smiling widely.

            “What’s his girl look like?”

            “Blue hair, uh.. Blue eyes,” Lucy mumbled, thinking.

            “Shit,” Natsu muttered, laughing nervously.

            “What?”

            “Lucy, the soldiers, we uh, well some girls would send us letters, right? Well some of those letters were love letters like Lax always got, while others were _love letters_ ,” he explained, accentuating _love_ the second time. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows.

            “Love letters?”

            “Luce, some girls sent nudes. Gray got nudes from his girl and sometimes, the guys would break into his stuff and pass ‘em around and have a go,” Natsu explained, blushing. “I never did, but I did see them once. So I don’t think I could ever look at his girl without seeing her buck ass naked.”

            Lucy looked at Natsu, and then started laughing. He was taken aback by her laughter, expecting her to be scolding him or calling him awful names for seeing her friend naked.

            “Juvia has only been with Gray for three months!” she exclaimed, laughing. “He came home from Vietnam and she was in the support group that he went to. They met there and a month later they started seeing each other.”

            “What’s this support group?” Natsu asked.

            “Oh, soldiers who came back from Vietnam come there and us girls help them through their attacks they have,” Lucy explained, smiling softly. The waitress placed their milkshakes down, and walked away. “That’s how I met Juvia and-“

            Lucy was cut off by a loud bang that echoed through the restaurant, causing Natsu to freeze, and clench his fists as he fought off the horrible images. He swore as he tasted blood from his cheek, and everything suddenly stopped.

            He opened his eyes, and saw Lucy reaching across the table, holding his hand, and hugging him close to her. His eyes started to water, and he wrapped his free arm around her, and cried.

            “It’s okay, Natsu,” Lucy whispered, rubbing his back. She slid over the table and held him as he cried into her shoulder. “It’s all over now.”

            “Is it?” he asked angrily, pulling away from her. “Is it really all over Lucy? Is it over when my friends are still back over in Nam doing their missions? Is it over when I’m on the line, waiting for them to call me back because I know damn well they will? Is it over when innocent men are risking their lives over things that the United States shouldn’t be involved in? Is it over?” his voice cracked, and he placed his hands on his face, hiding it.

            “No, it’s not,” Lucy said quietly. “But you’re here back home, safe and sound. You’re here and nothing is going to hurt you.”

                        Natsu sniffed, and wiped his face with his sleeve, before reaching for his milkshake and taking a sip. Lucy moved back to her seat, and followed suit, staying quiet as Natsu looked out the window, watching the people pass by.

            Lucy saw normal people walking by, dressed normally for a winter day such as itself, while Natsu saw soldiers marching with guns perched on their soldiers, and others were carrying dead or injured men, not knowing who was who anymore.

            Natsu looked away and down into the pink milkshake, and shuddered. He had never truly left Vietnam.


End file.
